Media Release

Is This Really Change?

EDMONTON, AB - Last Sunday, the PC Party elected Alison Redford as their new leader, who will serve as Premier until the next election. Ms. Redford ran on a platform of “change”, with a campaign that sharply critiqued her party’s positions on everything from healthcare to land management to education. The pundits are interpreting her victory as a significant change in direction for the PCs.

I will believe it when I see it.

Albertans have seen this movie before. Every time the PC’s elect a new leader, their spin machine begins to talk about how the party has been rejuvenated. However, it’s important to keep in mind that Ms.Redford was a senior minister in the government that passed the measures that she now opposes, including the regressive Alberta Land Stewardship Act and huge cuts to education. Now she has cancelled the fall sitting of the legislature, refusing to go back to work so that Albertans can hold her and the government accountable publicly.

Ms. Redford talked about changing policies that she disagrees with. That’s fine – we disagree with many of those policies too. The problem is that she did not advance a single idea on how to change the way the government develops and implements policy. This is a big problem.

All of us who have joined the Alberta Party movement have done so because we believe that there has to be fundamental change to the way the system works. We need to have authentic citizen engagement in our province.

We need a government that engages in real conversations with real people. Just because Ms. Redford wants to change a policy here and a policy there, doesn’t at all mean that she believes in making the fundamental changes that Albertans are demanding. I believe this is why, despite all of the media coverage, turnout at the PC’s leadership vote was about 50% lower than last time.

Our movement began because we fundamentally believe that there is a better way of governing. Last weekend’s vote simply confirms that we are on the right track. All of the traditional parties are unable or unwilling to proceed down this path. Alberta needs the Alberta Party more than ever and we will continue to build this movement into a party that will eventually form government.